Congress' Most Corrupt Member, Jerry Lewis (R-CA), Finally Retiring

California working families had good political news this week with the announced retirements of reactionary congressmen Elton Gallegly and the even more heinous Mormon fanatic Wally Herger. And then there are the rumors, which grow louder by the day, that either David Dreier or Darrell Issa will forego another run for the House in order to challenge Dianne Feinstein, a suicidal mission even for the richest Member of Congress (career criminal Issa). But there's even better news. Last week we mentioned the rumors that Jerry Lewis, the most corrupt man in Congress, was considering cashing in his chips. Confirmation arrived yesterday when Lewis contributors confirmed that their puppet in DC has told them he won't run again.

We have confirmed that longtime Republican Congressman Jerry Lewis of the Inland Empire has been making phone calls to supporters today indicating that he is not running for re-election. We are not prepared to say this means he actually is retiring, since he has been rumored to be retiring before, and he keeps running again, and again.

Lewis of course is known as the “Minority Maker” as he was dubbed by the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board for being a prolific proponent of egregious pork-barrel spending in Washington, D.C. The Journal credited Lewis with bearing some of the burden for the 2006 epic loss of the House by Republicans, because of GOP over-spending.

Lewis’ current seat was divvied up in redistricting and there were questions about which seat he would actually chose to run in. If Lewis does retire, this could set the state for moderate San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos to run. Ramos was a proponent of Governor Brown’s tax increase proposal last year, which was controversial in GOP circles. Also possibly running could be State Senator Bob Dutton, and also there is rumor that if Lewis doesn’t run, Congressman Gary Miller might slide over and run for one of the two “Lewis” seats. Also Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt and Assemblyman Paul Cook… Lots of potential candidates in this area.

Again, we can confirm that Lewis is telling people he will retire this year. We can only cross our fingers and hope it’s true. Don’t miss this video below as a reminder of the big spending ways of the “Minority Maker”…

Townshirt Disruptive Tactics Come To L.A. Health Care Forums

My Congresswoman, Diane Watson (D-CA), held a town hall forum in the district last night. I didn't even know about it, which is odd since I tend to pay attention to these kinds of things. Fortunately a friend did go and he told me it was a peaceful affair, with around 400 people at the AME Church in West Adams, overwhelmingly people who support health care reform. There were a few teabaggers, two of whom came in costumes-- one as Dracula and one as hideous and bloated version of Ted Kennedy. It's almost as though the two idiots were begging to be assaulted so they could go running to Fox. They sat scowling at the audience, taking photos. Congresswoman Watson was one of the first members of Congress to sign the letter to Speaker Pelosi saying she would not vote for any health care legislation that didn't include-- at least-- a public option. She's one of the 65 members of the House that Blue America has been collecting thank you contributions for. If you'd like to take a look at our campaign, or add to it, here's the link.

Meanwhile, in another part of L.A. County there was a health care town hall hosted by the Peace and Justice Committee of the Religious Society of Friends and the Claremont Democratic Club in Claremont. The area's congressmember-- David Dreier, an absentee congressman in the best of times-- predictably refused invitations to come. He runs his family's real estate development business near Kansas City and lives there when he isn't in Washington. But without Dreier, citizens of Claremont gathered for a respectful give and take about the health care debate. At least that was the intention. Teabagging rightists immediately attempted to unfurl their agenda of disruption.

The crowd was large and enthusiastic and spilled out the door of the 150 seat auditorium, many attendees straining to listen from an outdoor patio. A determined heckler, Charles Cox from an extremist group calling itself Survivors of Abortion Holocaust, was removed from the auditorium by the crowd when he shouted "Unamerican" at a panelist who was advocating for a single payer system. The heckler, who is from Riverside, muscled his way back into the forum, was disruptive again and was removed again. He the went around to a side door and was blocked from entering. When he continued to shout out "this meeting is breaking the law." Organizers were forced to shut the door leaving many people out of the town hall. The heckler's female friend, who was inside, then opened the door and he attempted to enter. One of the organizers was forced to push the heckler back, and the heckler fell to the ground loudly claiming assault-- a now all to familiar right wing self-victimization strategy-- and made a plea for the cavalry to come. While on the phone with paramedics, this disruptive outsider had to ask "What city are we in?"

Funny thing-- he refused care when the paramedics rolled a stretcher up to the door and was overheard talking about a preexisting condition. Word is, he is pressing assault charges against the volunteer who was trying to keep the peace. No doubt, he'll soon be peddling his tale of martyrdom on Glenn Beck's or Bill O'Reilly's anti-health care circus. Here, it goes to show, this is such a hot button issue, it can even get blood boiling in pacifist Claremont.

When the forum finally got back on track after the disruption many people had the chance to get up on their soap boxes and make pleas for everything from tort reform to maintaining the status quo. Russ Warner, the progressive Democrat who is running for Congress-- and has been endorsed by DWT received a huge round of applause when he acknowledged how passionate people are about the issue and how important it is to be part of the live town hall forum. "I will never hide behind the telephone."

An owner of a local small business in the district himself, Warner has been a backer of health care reform for a very long time. He's been pointing out to voters in CA-26 how the bill Congress is crafting now would bring enormous benefits to the local area, particularly to seniors and to over 13,000 small businesses in the district. Over 1,300 families in the district wouldn't have to face the trauma of health care related bankruptcy if the bill passes. Dreier isn't supporting health care reform-- he's picked up a cool $287,642 from the Insurance Business and another hefty $602,339 from the Medical-Industrial Complex-- but Warner is, and he's paying very close attention to the bills in Congress. Yesterday the Energy and Commerce Committee released a study about how their bill would impact CA-26.

• Help for small businesses. Under the legislation, small businesses with 25 employees or less and average wages of less than $40,000 qualify for tax credits of up to 50% of the costs of providing health insurance. There are up to 13,200 small businesses in the district that could qualify for these credits.

• Help for seniors with drug costs in the Part D donut hole. Each year, 11,200 seniors in the district hit the donut hole and are forced to pay their full drug costs, despite having Part D drug coverage. The legislation would provide them with immediate relief, cutting brand name drug costs in the donut hole by 50%, and ultimately eliminate the donut hole.

• Health care and financial security. There were 1,300 health care-related bankruptcies in the district in 2008, caused primarily by the health care costs not covered by insurance. The bill provides health insurance for almost every American and caps annual out-of-pocket costs at $10,000 per year, ensuring that no citizen will have to face financial ruin because of high health care costs.

• Relieving the burden of uncompensated care for hospitals and health care providers. In 2008, health care providers in the district provided $35 million worth of uncompensated care, care that was provided to individuals who lacked insurance coverage and were unable to pay their bills. Under the legislation, these costs of uncompensated care would be virtually eliminated.

• Coverage of the uninsured. There are 92,000 uninsured individuals in the district, 13% of the district. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that nationwide, 97% of all Americans will have insurance coverage when the bill takes effect. If this benchmark is reached in the district, 71,000 people who currently do not have health insurance will receive coverage.

• No deficit spending. The cost of health care reform under the legislation is fully paid for: half through making the Medicare and Medicaid program more efficient and half through a surtax on the income of the wealthiest individuals. This surtax would affect only 6,750 households in the district. The surtax would not affect 97.8% of taxpayers in the district.

The concerted astro-turfing of the health care debate is very well-documented and the Republican Party success at diverting the debate from health care reform to unfocused hatred, fears, anger, racism and generalized divisiveness has disqualified them from being taken seriously as participants.

I don't have video of either of last night's Los Angeles County town hall meetings but I'd like to share a clip from two earlier health care debates (1971 and 1974) that will probably sound awfully familiar to anyone who's been paying attention this year. First, please check how Miss McConnell (R-KY), who has received $943,507 in thinly disguised bribes from the Insurance Industry and another startling $2,770,168 from the Medical-Industrial Complex, is approaching the health care debate. Playing strictly by the Insurance Industry's playbook, he contends that everything's pretty hunky-dory-- which it is... if you're a millionaire or a member of Congress (he's both) with no worries about health care.

Why Does David Dreier Want To Poison Your Family With Tainted Food Products? And He's Got Some Cronies In Congress Who Feel The Same Way

CA Congressmembers Dreier & Bono Mack dream of free market e. coli

Conservatives have always fought like mad dogs (if not blue ones) against protecting consumers from being poisoned by people selling bad food. Learning about the battles between progressives and conservatives regarding food safety in school helped me understand why I would never support conservatives and why I was-- and am-- a progressive. How in the pocket of Big Business do you have to be to risk killing your own constituents-- or even family members-- in the name of unregulated markets?

Yesterday the House failed to pass HR 2749, John Dingell's Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, a major overhaul of the FDA 280- 150. (It needed a 2/3's margin to pass under the rules so it lost by about 10 votes). Who would vote against food safety? You know the answer: conservatives, the whole reactionary Republican leadership and almost all the GOP loons in the House plus 23 mostly disgraceful Democrats, primarily Blue Dog congenital aisle jumpers like Heath Shuler (NC), Walt Minnick (ID), Travis Childers (MS), Parker Griffith (AL), Frank Kratovil (MD), Jim Marshall (GA), etc.

The DCCC sent out press releases today pointing out how California reactionaries Brian Bilbray, Mary Bono Mack, Ken Calvert, David Dreier, Elton Gallegly, Dana Rohrabacher, Dan Lungren, Tom McClintock, and Buck McKeon blocked Dingell's bill:

Despite recent outbreaks of food borne illnesses such as E.coli and salmonella, today Representative David Dreier blocked an attempt to strengthen and modernize the way we protect America’s food supply.
 
“Americans worrying about when the next outbreak of E.coli or salmonella will strike their families deserve better than Representative Dreier blocking a plan to keep our food supply safe,” said Ryan Rudominer, National Press Secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

“It’s outrageous that Representative Dreier is willing to block solutions to make sure the food Americans feed to children is healthy and safe.” 

It is outrageous and Dreier should be defeated next year. But so should Minnick, Childers, Griffith and Kratovil, all of whom voted with Dreier and the Republicans and all of whom are on the Debbie Wasserman Schultz' DCCC Frontline Program. Donate to the DCCC and help defeat Republicans who want to poison our families and help re-elect with the same check Democrats who want to poison our families. How does Debbie Wasserman Schultz fall asleep at night or look in a mirror?

Meanwhile, the bill will be voted on today and it will only need a simple majority to pass. (Astute readers may have noticed that a small handful of dedicated progressives voted against the bill yesterday as well-- Lynn Woolsey, Maurice Hinchey, Chellie Pingree, Earl Blumenauer, Ben Ray Luján, Peter Welch, Steve Kagen, Eric Massa, and Martin Heinrich. After talking to a few Capitol Hill staffers and to food policy expert Jill Richardson (author of Recipe for America: Why Our Food System is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It) it appears that they are concerned about the burdensome effect on small organic farms since there's a flat $500 registration fee per facility and they thought it should be adjusted and made lower.)


UPDATE: The House Overcame GOP Obstructionism And Passed The Food Safety Enhancement Act

Adopting a rule that allowed the bill to pass with a simple majority, with just a few vote changes from yesterday-- 3 Democrats and 4 Republicans gave up their opposition-- the bill passed 283-142, another progressive victory for consumer protection against the extremism of anti-social mania of proft-driven conservatives. The California E. coli Republicans, Brian Bilbray, Mary Bono Mack, Ken Calvert, David Dreier, Elton Gallegly, Dana Rohrabacher, Dan Lungren, Tom McClintock, and Buck McKeon, all voted against the bill again. President Obama commended the House on passage:

Today the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, legislation that will raise food safety standards, allow the FDA to issue mandatory recalls of harmful products, and enhance our oversight of imported food.

This action represents a major step forward in modernizing our food safety system and protecting Americans from foodborne illness. Those are the goals of the Food Safety Working Group I convened in March and charged with making recommendations to improve our food safety system. And that is why we announced a new rule to control Salmonella contamination in eggs and are working to reduce the presence of harmful pathogens such as E. coli in meat and produce; strengthen our capacity to trace the source of outbreaks; and update our emergency operations procedures.

I commend the House of Representatives for its action today and look forward to working with the Senate to enact critical food safety legislation.

MY INTERVIEW WITH "CANDIDATE X," RUSS WARNER, THE DEMOCRATS' BEST CHANCE IN YEARS TO RETIRE DAVID DREIER

This is going to make more sense if you read the article I posted yesterday called MEET THE DEMOCRATS' CANDIDATE X. I'll take it from there. The incumbent is the execrable David Dreier, another hypocritical, self-loathing Republican closet case, who has misrepresented California's 26th CD for 25 years. (It's a moderate suburban L.A. district not unlike the Northern Virginia districts that used to vote Republican but went overwhelmingly for Democrat Tim Kaine in the gubernatorial race there a couple months ago. It's usually thought of as the San Gabriel Valley, but it also extends into San Bernardino County and some of the better known communities are La Canada, La Crescenta, Flintridge, Rancho Cucamonga, Altadena, a bit of Pasadena, San Marino, Glendora, La Verne, Monrovia, Arcadia, Claremont, Upland... There is no primary and the challenger, yesterday's "Mr. X," is Russ Warner, a successful local entrepreneur.

I met Russ and one of his 3 sons, Greg, at a rally for Wes Clark on October 28 in Cheviot Hills. Greg, who's in the Army and had recently returned from Iraq, had urged his dad to run for Congress. I prefer to be able to look at someone in the eyes when I talk with them but I had trouble enough getting an interview with Warner to be too picky, so tonight I sat down and had a nice, relaxed, friendly conversation with him on the telephone.

I was half expecting a what I've been referring to on DWT as a Rahm Emanuel shill candidate; I thought I had it all figured out in advance. I didn't. Russ had his own point of view on issues-- some identical to mine, some very different from mine, all probably well-suited to the district he's lived in for the last 25 years. My best guess it that he'll be a moderate Democrat-- in the real sense of "moderate," not as a polite way of saying a "right-wing Democrat" like Jim Marshall, or Henry Cuellar or Ben Nelson.

On some of the tough issues, his reflexes were absolutely spot on. He's adamant that America needs universal health care and that the country is ready for it now. He speaks about it with conviction and passion and it's obviously a topic he's thought long and hard about. Most everything we talked about flowed through his life-experience as an entrepreneur, something I'm very comfortable with, having come from a similar background. His analysis of the state of the union finds grave fault with the greed, avarice and arrogance of Big Business. And, for Warner, salvation is the hard work, sweat and dedication of the enlightened entrepreneur and small businessperson. It could be a lot worse-- and for CA-26, it's pretty close to perfect.

One crucial issue for the race is going to be immigration. The loony and extremely xenophobic/racist Minutemen are strong in Southern California and some local right-wing drive-time radio show targeted Dreier in 2004 and hammered him mercilessly. Their motto is kind of "Anything But Dreier" because he supports Bush's corporatist immigration policies. (That wing-- as opposed to the neo-Nazi Tancredo wing-- of the GOP encourages a flood of immigration, illegal better than legal, in order to drive labor prices down for their corporate allies and to undermine union's bargaining power. The Republicans have always hated minimum wage laws, safety in the workplace laws, child labor laws, all the kind of stuff that differentiates free citizens with dignity from serfs and slaves-- the right-wing's ideal condition for the non-wealthy.) Anyway, the radio loons, "John & Ken," still hate Dreier, who fears them the way a 10 year old girl lost in a forest would feel a pack of hungry wolves. Dreier has tried to move a bit in their direction on the issue but they're not having any of his weasel-words and they never shut about how terrible and corporate he is. And he has some Minuteman type challenging him-- ineffectually-- in the GOP primary. Warner understands the immigration issue and his response is very reasonable: to crack down on the big businesses that encourage illegal immigration by hiring illegals.

His answer about equal protection for gays and lesbians was very matter-of-fact-- sort of like a moderate version of Paul Hackett's: we're all Americans and all entitled to equal protection under the law-- and he specifically brought up civil marriage. Funny how a happily married man, confident in his own skin, has no problems with gays while a closeted, self-loathing and petrified homosexual like David Dreier feels the need to victimize gay people every chance he gets as a legislator. Dreier's homosexuality, his hypocrisy in that area, and the scandal of his taxpayer-financed lover's inordinately large salary are issues Warner refuses to talk about-- even when prodded. He's a decent guy who is determined to take the high road.

My biggest specific problem with Warner was, probably predictably, Iraq. I think what drives Warner is his life's experience as an entrepreneur, a husband and a father and that these experiences are determinative of his positions. He's not an ideologue; he seems like a considerate and fair-minded problem-solver. The conclusions he's come to about Big Pharma's role in the deteriorating state of our medical system is a great example of how real life experience, not ideology, brought him to a common sense conclusion about the corrosive nature of Big Business in a democratic and middle class-oriented society. When it came to Iraq, however... his experiences are different from mine. When I put the question to him-- how do we get out-- he fumbled around a bit, perhaps still trying to get to the best solution to a problem that has too many grays. He started talking about troop rotations and getting Arab and Muslim and even NATO countries to send troops as we bring our boys home. I got a sinking feeling in my stomach.

I pointed out that other countries, even the ones we bribed initially, are withdrawing troops and that no one wants to send new troops in. He pointed out that that's because no one trusts Bush. I pointed out that he's running for Congress and that, in all likelihood, Bush will be around for his entire first term. In the end came what I was afraid was the inevitable answer: the way out of Iraq is to... elect Wes Clark president. Warner is a true believer and has tremendous faith in the general. I don't want to start another war with the Wes Clark supporters (and risk hundreds of pieces of spam, most of it either filthy, racist, homophobic or a combination, all over my blog again) but this illusion that history depends on a (military) strongman disturbed me-- big time. I respect Clark and I respect Warner's admiration and trust in him, but as right as Clark was about the Iraq war in the beginning (that it would be a terrible and costly blunder), he has been wrong ever since. Somewhat astonished that Warner seemed to be equating an end to the problems in Iraq with the election of Clark as president, I asked him if that was the only way out. He said the Democrats have a strong line-up of potential candidates who he trusted could solve the problem. He mentioned 3 others: Mark Warner, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton.

I think Russ Warner is a good challenger for David Dreier in the 26th CD. And a much better candidate than what I've come to expect from the DCCC. I think he has an excellent chance of winning and I think he'll be a decent congressman if he does-- far, far better than the inherently dishonest, conflicted mess we have in that seat now. Is he a DFA candidate? He seems to think so (although he doesn't even mention he's a Democrat on his website). I'm sure some DFA grassroots workers and donations would be welcome and useful. But this is a campaign that I think is one I'll be rooting for rather than participating in myself. The local DFA folks appreciate him and want to help and that doesn't really bother me if they have nothing better to do. (Francine Busby should be an incumbent by then. Progressive Californians in solidly Democratic districts should also consider helping Jerry McNerney to topple Richard Pombo and Charlie Brown to rid California of John Doolittle.) Still, on the very day-- today-- that DFA has endorsed 4 proud progressives, Francine Busby, Christine Cegelis, Mary Jo Kilroy and Lois Murphy, for Congress, I think it would be too much of a stretch for me to ask that organization to do likewise for Warner. Instead I'm calling my pals Bob, Mary and Grace in San Marino and asking them to give Warner a hand.